Multi-cdn digital content streaming

ABSTRACT

Techniques for optimizing a plurality of parallel network connections for a digital content stream through a network between a plurality of content servers and a content player. Embodiments determine an indication of network performance for each of the plurality of parallel network connections. Additionally, upon determining that a first one the plurality of parallel network connections is underperforming, based on whether the indication of network performance associated with the first parallel network connection satisfies a threshold level of performance, the first parallel network connection is dropped. Upon determining that a total throughput for the digital content stream is less than a minimum threshold of network performance, embodiments select a content server with which to establish a new parallel network connection, based on historical network performance data associated with the selected content server, and also establishing the new parallel network connection to the selected content server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of the co-pending U.S. patentapplication titled, “MULTI-CDN DIGITAL CONTENT STREAMING,” filed on Nov.21, 2012 and having Ser. No. 13/683,578. The subject matter of thisrelated application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to digital contentdelivery techniques and, more specifically, to the use of parallelnetwork connections to transmit a digital content stream.

2. Description of Related Art

Streaming digital content (e.g., video content) is an increasinglypopular method of delivering entertainment content to users. Frequently,a digital content stream is transmitted to an end point device over asingle network connection. In some circumstances, the rate at which thedigital content stream can be transmitted over the single networkconnection may be negatively affected by poor network conditions,causing the playback of the digital content stream on the end pointdevice to be delayed or even prevented. Additionally, it is generallypreferable to maximize the network throughput in streaming digitalcontent, as doing so can enable the streaming of higher quality content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the invention disclosed herein provides a method,computer-readable medium and system for optimizing a plurality ofparallel network connections for a digital content stream through anetwork between a plurality of content servers and a content player. Themethod, computer-readable medium and system include determining anindication of network performance for each of the plurality of parallelnetwork connections. Upon determining that a first one the plurality ofparallel network connections is underperforming, based on whether theindication of network performance associated with the first parallelnetwork connection satisfies a threshold level of performance, themethod, computer-readable medium and system include dropping the firstparallel network connection. Additionally, upon determining that a totalthroughput for the digital content stream is less than a minimumthreshold of network performance, the method, computer-readable mediumand system include selecting a content server with which to establish anew parallel network connection, based on historical network performancedata associated with the selected content server, and establishing thenew parallel network connection to the selected content server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the presentinvention can be understood in detail, a more particular description ofthe invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toembodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Itis to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a content distribution system configured to implementone or more aspects described herein.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed view of the content player of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 3 is a more detailed view of the content server of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 4 is a content distribution system configured to implement one ormore aspects described herein.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for streaming digitalcontent from a plurality of content servers, according to one embodimentdescribed herein.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for optimizing a numberof parallel connections to a plurality of content servers, according toone embodiment described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally speaking, it is preferable to transmit a digital contentstream at as high a transmission rate as possible, as the transmissionrate of streaming digital content correlates to the quality of thestreaming digital content. Additionally, content streaming systems oftenestablish only a single network connection with content server. However,streaming techniques using only a single network connection may beunable to maximize network throughput and to take advantage of availablenetwork bandwidth. For instance, if the network connecting the contentplayer and the content server is experiencing problems (e.g., packetloss) or is operating under a heavy workload, the playback of thedigital content stream on the content player device may be delayed oreven prevented. Additionally, some network protocols are capable ofachieving a greater total network throughput when multiple networkconnections are established, relative to the use of a single networkconnection.

Accordingly, embodiments provide techniques for transmitting a digitalcontent stream through a network between a plurality of content serversand a content player. Such a content player may be configured toretrieve network performance information for the plurality of contentservers. For instance, network performance information could includehistorical performance information for the content servers such as ameasure of network throughput for a content server, network bandwidthfor the content server, network throughput variance for the contentserver, average latency of the content server, historical availabilityof the content server and services supported by the content server.

Embodiments determine a mapping of the plurality of content servers to aplurality of portions of a content buffer on the content player, basedon the retrieved network performance information. Here, the portions ofthe content buffer are portions that have not yet been downloaded from acontent server. For instance, a streaming manager on the content playercould divide the content buffer on the content player into the pluralityof portions and, for each of the plurality of portions of the contentbuffer, could determining a size of the portion based on the retrievednetwork performance information for the corresponding content server. Inone embodiment, content servers with a slower network performance, asindicated by the network performance information, are mapped to laterportions of the content buffer. Conversely, content servers with afaster network performance, as indicated by the network performanceinformation, are mapped to earlier portions of the content buffer.

Additionally, the streaming manager on the content player may transmit arequest to each of the plurality of content servers to transmit digitalcontent associated with the corresponding portion of the content buffer.Advantageously, doing so enables content player devices to streamdigital content simultaneously in parallel from a plurality of differentcontent servers, which in turn may help to maximize the networkthroughput of the streaming and thereby help to improve the quality ofthe streaming content (i.e., by streaming a higher quality encoding ofthe digital content using the increased network throughput).Additionally, by mapping later portions of the content buffer to slowercontent servers and earlier portions of the content buffer to fastercontent servers, embodiments may effectively utilize a variety ofdifferent content servers of various capabilities.

Another embodiment provides techniques for optimizing a plurality ofparallel network connections for a digital content stream through anetwork between a plurality of content servers and a content player. Thestreaming manager could determine an indication of network performancefor each of the plurality of parallel network connections. Additionally,embodiments could determine whether a first one the plurality ofparallel network connections is underperforming, based on whether theindication of network performance associated with the first parallelnetwork connection exceeds a threshold value of performance. Upondetermining that the first parallel network connection isunderperforming, embodiments may drop the first parallel networkconnection. Additionally, the content player could also be configured toadd a new network connection to a content server under certaincircumstances. For instance, in one embodiment, the content player isconfigured to add a new network connection upon determining that a totalnetwork throughput is less than a threshold amount of throughput.Advantageously, doing so helps to optimize the number of parallelnetwork connections used by the content player for streaming digitalcontent.

FIG. 1 illustrates a content distribution system 100 configured toimplement one or more aspects of the present invention. As shown, thecontent distribution system 100 includes, without limitation, a contentplayer 110, one or more content servers 130, and a communicationsnetwork 150. The content distribution system 100 may also include acontent directory server 120. In one embodiment, the one or more contentservers 130 comprise a content distribution network (CDN) 140.

The communications network 150 includes a plurality of networkcommunications systems, such as routers and switches, configured tofacilitate data communication between the content player 110 and the oneor more content servers 130. Persons skilled in the art will recognizethat many technically feasible techniques exist for building thecommunications network 150, including technologies practiced indeploying the well-known internet communications network. A networkconnection may broadly refer to a communications channel between twodevices that are connected to the communications network 150.

The content directory server 120 comprises a computer system configuredto receive a title lookup request 152 and generate file location data154. The title lookup request 152 includes, without limitation, a nameof a movie or song requested by a user. The content directory server 120queries a database (not shown) that maps a video stream of a given titleencoded at a particular playback bit rate to a digital content file 132,residing within an associated content server 130. The file location data154 includes, without limitation, a reference to a content server 130that is configured to provide the digital content file 132 to thecontent player 110 (e.g., through one or more network connections).Multiple content servers 130 (e.g., content server 130-1, content server130-2, content server 130-3, etc.) may each have a copy of the digitalcontent file 132 and may each be configured to provide the portions ofthe file simultaneously to the same content player 110 using thecommunications network 150.

The content server 130 is a computer system configured to serve downloadrequests for digital content files 132 from the content player 110. Thedigital content files may reside on a mass storage system accessible tothe computer system. The mass storage system may include, withoutlimitation, direct attached storage, network attached file storage, ornetwork attached block-level storage. The digital content files 132 maybe formatted and stored on the mass storage system using any technicallyfeasible technique. A data transfer protocol, such as the well-knownhyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP), may be used to download digitalcontent files 132 from the content server 130 to the content player 110.

Each title (e.g., a movie, song, or other form of digital media) isassociated with one or more digital content files 132. Each digitalcontent file 132 comprises, without limitation, a sequence header index114, audio data and an encoded sequence. An encoded sequence comprises acomplete version of the video data corresponding title encoded to aparticular playback bit rate. For example, a given title may beassociated with digital content file 132-1, digital content file 132-2,and digital content file 132-3. Digital content file 132-1 may comprisesequence header index 114-1 and an encoded sequence encoded to anaverage playback bit rate of approximately 250 kilobits per second(Kbps). Digital content file 132-2 may comprise sequence header index114-2 and an encoded sequence encoded to an average playback bit rate ofapproximately 1000 Kbps. Similarly, digital content file 132-3 maycomprise sequence header index 114-3 and an encoded sequence encoded toan average playback bit rate of approximately 1500 Kbps. The 1500 Kbpsencoded sequence enables higher quality playback and is therefore moredesirable for playback versus the 250 Kbps encoded sequence. Given thatmultiple content servers 130 (e.g., content server 130-1, content server130-2, content server 130-3, etc.) may each have a copy of the digitalcontent file 132, each of the multiple content servers 130 may thereforehave the digital content file 132-1, digital content file 132-2, anddigital content file 132-3, etc.

An encoded sequence within a digital content file 132 is organized asunits of video data representing a fixed span of playback time. Overallplayback time is organized into sequential time slots, eachcorresponding to one fixed span of playback time. For a given time slot,one unit of video data is represented within the digital content file132 for the playback bit rate associated with the digital content file132. Because variable bit rate encoding may be used, each unit of videodata may be variable in size, despite a direct correspondence to thefixed span of playback time. For the above example, each time slotwithin the digital content file 132-1 comprising an encoded sequenceencoded to a playback bit rate of 1500 Kbps would include a unit ofvideo data encoded at 1500 Kbps. In one embodiment, units of audio dataare encoded at a fixed bit rate for each time slot and stored in thedigital content file 132.

The units of video data and units of audio data are configured toprovide time-synchronized playback, beginning at the start of each timeslot. To avoid starving either audio playback or video playback, unitsof audio data and units of video data are downloaded in a generallyalternating pattern to assure that the audio buffer 244 and video buffer246 store comparable durations of playback time each.

Persons skilled in the art will readily recognize that each encodedsequence, as defined above, comprises a digital content “stream.”Furthermore, the process of downloading a particular encoded sequencefrom the content server 130 to the content player 110 comprises“streaming” the digital content to the content player 110 for playbackat a particular playback bit rate.

The content player 110 may comprise a computer system, a set top box, amobile device such as a mobile phone, or any other technically feasiblecomputing platform that has network connectivity and is coupled to orincludes a display device and speaker device for presenting videoframes, and generating acoustic output, respectively. As described ingreater detail below, the content player 110 is configured to download aunit of video data for a selected bit rate, and adapt the selected bitrate for subsequently downloaded units of video data based on prevailingbandwidth conditions within the communications network 150.

As available bandwidth within the communications network 150 becomeslimited, the content player may select a lower bit rate encoding forunits of video data that have not yet been downloaded corresponding tosubsequent time slots. As available bandwidth increases, a higher bitrate encoding may be selected.

Although, in the above description, the content distribution system 100is shown with one content player 110 and one CDN 140, persons skilled inthe art will recognize that the architecture of FIG. 1 contemplates onlyan exemplary embodiment of the invention. Other embodiments may includeany number of content players 110 and/or CDNs 140. Thus, FIG. 1 is in noway intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

Generally, the content player 110 (or an application executing on thecontent player 110) may be configured to determine a mapping of theplurality of content servers to a plurality of portions of the contentbuffer 112, based on network performance information characterizing thestreaming performance of the plurality of content servers 130 ₁₋₃ (e.g.,based on previous digital content streams between the content player andthe content servers 130 ₁₋₃). For instance, the content player 110 coulddivide the content buffer 112 into the plurality of portions and, foreach of the plurality of portions of the content buffer, coulddetermining a size of the portion based on the retrieved networkperformance information for the corresponding content server. In oneembodiment, the content buffer is divided into portions such thatcontent servers 130 ₁₋₃ having a slower network performance, asindicated by the network performance information, are mapped to laterportions of the content buffer 112, and content servers with a fasternetwork performance, as indicated by the network performanceinformation, are mapped to earlier portions of the content buffer 112.

Additionally, the content player 110 may transmit a request to each ofthe plurality of content servers 130 ₁₋₃ to transmit digital contentassociated with the corresponding portion of the content buffer (e.g., aportion of the digital content file 132-1. Doing so allows the contentplayer 110 to stream digital content simultaneously from a plurality ofdifferent content servers 130 ₁₋₃, which may maximize the networkthroughput of the streaming and improve the quality of the streamingcontent (e.g., by streaming a higher quality encoding of the digitalcontent using the increased network throughput). Additionally, bymapping later portions of the content buffer to slower content serversand earlier portions of the content buffer to faster content servers,embodiments may effectively use a variety of different content servers.

Another embodiment provides techniques for optimizing a plurality ofparallel network connections for a digital content stream through anetwork between a plurality of content servers and a content player. Insuch an embodiment, the content player 110 (or an application executingon the content player 110) may determine an indication of networkperformance for each of the plurality of parallel network connections.Additionally, the content player 110 could determine whether a first onethe plurality of parallel network connections is underperforming, basedon whether the indication of network performance associated with thefirst parallel network connection exceeds a threshold value ofperformance. Upon determining that the first parallel network connectionis underperforming, the content player 110 could drop the first parallelnetwork connection. Additionally, the content player could also beconfigured to add a new network connection to a content server undercertain circumstances. For instance, in one embodiment, the contentplayer 110 is configured to add a new network connection upondetermining that a total network throughput is less than a thresholdamount of throughput. Advantageously, doing so helps to optimize thenumber of parallel network connections used by the content player forstreaming digital content.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed view of the content player 110 of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment of the invention. As shown, the contentplayer 110 includes, without limitation, a central processing unit (CPU)210, a graphics subsystem 212, an input/output (I/O) device interface214, a network interface 218, an interconnect 220, and a memorysubsystem 230. The content player 110 may also include a mass storageunit 216.

The CPU 210 is configured to retrieve and execute programminginstructions stored in the memory subsystem 230. Similarly, the CPU 210is configured to store and retrieve application data residing in thememory subsystem 230. The interconnect 220 is configured to facilitatetransmission of data, such as programming instructions and applicationdata, between the CPU 210, graphics subsystem 212, I/O devices interface214, mass storage 216, network interface 218, and memory subsystem 230.

The graphics subsystem 212 is configured to generate frames of videodata and transmit the frames of video data to display device 250. In oneembodiment, the graphics subsystem 212 may be integrated into anintegrated circuit, along with the CPU 210. The display device 250 maycomprise any technically feasible means for generating an image fordisplay. For example, the display device 250 may be fabricated usingliquid crystal display (LCD) technology, cathode-ray technology, andlight-emitting diode (LED) display technology (either organic orinorganic). An input/output (I/O) device interface 214 is configured toreceive input data from user I/O devices 252 and transmit the input datato the CPU 210 via the interconnect 220. For example, user I/O devices252 may comprise one of more buttons, a keyboard, and a mouse or otherpointing device. The I/O device interface 214 also includes an audiooutput unit configured to generate an electrical audio output signal.User I/O devices 252 includes a speaker configured to generate anacoustic output in response to the electrical audio output signal. Inalternative embodiments, the display device 250 may include the speaker.A television is an example of a device known in the art that can displayvideo frames and generate an acoustic output. A mass storage unit 216,such as a hard disk drive or flash memory storage drive, is configuredto store non-volatile data. A network interface 218 is configured totransmit and receive packets of data via the communications network 150.In one embodiment, the network interface 218 is configured tocommunicate using the well-known Ethernet standard. The networkinterface 218 is coupled to the CPU 210 via the interconnect 220.

The memory subsystem 230 includes programming instructions and data thatcomprise an operating system 232, user interface 234, and playbackapplication 236. The operating system 232 performs system managementfunctions such as managing hardware devices including the networkinterface 218, mass storage unit 216, I/O device interface 214, andgraphics subsystem 212. The operating system 232 also provides processand memory management models for the user interface 234 and the playbackapplication 236. The user interface 234 provides a specific structure,such as a window and object metaphor, for user interaction with contentplayer 110. Persons skilled in the art will recognize the variousoperating systems and user interfaces that are well-known in the art andsuitable for incorporation into the content player 110.

The playback application 236 is configured to retrieve a digital contentfile 132 from one or more of the content servers 130 via the networkinterface 218 and play the digital content file 132 through the graphicssubsystem 212. The graphics subsystem 212 is configured to transmit arendered video signal to the display device 250. In normal operation,the playback application 236 receives a request from a user to play aspecific title. The playback application 236 then locates the digitalcontent files 132 associated with the requested title, where eachdigital content file 132 associated with the requested title includes anencoded sequence encoded to a different playback bit rate. In oneembodiment, the playback application 236 locates the digital contentfiles 132 by posting title lookup request 152 to the content directoryserver 120. The content directory server 120 replies to the title lookuprequest 152 with file location data 154 for each digital content file132 associated with the requested title. Each file location data 154includes a reference to the associated content server 130, in which therequested digital content file 132 resides. The title lookup request 152may include the name of the requested title, or other identifyinginformation with respect to the title. After the playback application236 has located the digital content files 132 associated with therequested title, the playback application 236 downloads sequence headerindices 114 associated with each digital content file 132 associatedwith the requested title from the content server 130.

In one embodiment, the playback application 236 begins downloading thedigital content file 132 associated with the requested title comprisingthe encoded sequence encoded to the lowest playback bit rate to minimizestartup time for playback. For the purposes of discussion, the digitalcontent file 132-1 is associated with the requested title and comprisesthe encoded sequence encoded to the lowest playback bit rate. Therequested digital content file 132-1 is downloaded into the contentbuffer 112, configured to serve as a first-in, first-out queue. In oneembodiment, each unit of downloaded data comprises a unit of video dataor a unit of audio data. As units of video data associated with therequested digital content file 132-1 are downloaded to the contentplayer 110, the units of video data are pushed into the content buffer112. Similarly, as units of audio data associated with the requesteddigital content file 132-1 are downloaded to the content player 110, theunits of audio data are pushed into the content buffer 112. In oneembodiment the units of video data are stored in video buffer 246 withinthe content buffer 112, and units of audio data are stored in audiobuffer 224, also within the content buffer 112.

A video decoder 248 reads units of video data from the video buffer 246,and renders the units of video data into a sequence of video framescorresponding in duration to the fixed span of playback time. Reading aunit of video data from the video buffer 246 effectively de-queues theunit of video data from the video buffer 246 (and from the contentbuffer 112). The sequence of video frames is processed by graphicssubsystem 212 and transmitted to the display device 250.

An audio decoder 242 reads units of audio data from the audio buffer244, and renders the units of audio data into a sequence of audiosamples, generally synchronized in time with the sequence of videoframes. In one embodiment, the sequence of audio samples is transmittedto the I/O device interface 214, which converts the sequence of audiosamples into the electrical audio signal. The electrical audio signal istransmitted to the speaker within the user I/O devices 252, which, inresponse, generates an acoustic output.

When playback is initiated, the playback application 236 requests unitsof video data encoded to the lowest available bit rate, therebyminimizing start time perceived by a user. However, as bandwidthconditions within the communications network 150 allow, the playbackapplication 236 may request units of video data encoded to higher bitrates, thereby improving playback quality over time, without introducinga startup delay commensurate with the highest level of playback qualityultimately achieved by the playback application 236. If bandwidthconditions within the communications network 150 deteriorate duringplayback, then the playback application 236 may request subsequent unitsof video data encoded to a lower bit rate. In one embodiment, theplayback application 236 determines which encoded bit rate should beused for each sequential download of a unit of video data based on abandwidth estimate calculated over one or more recently downloaded unitsof video data.

FIG. 3 is a more detailed view of the content server 130 of FIG. 1,according to one embodiment of the invention. The content server 130includes, without limitation, a central processing unit (CPU) 310, anetwork interface 318, an interconnect 320, a memory subsystem 330, anda mass storage unit 316. The content server 130 may also include an I/Odevices interface 314.

The CPU 310 is configured to retrieve and execute programminginstructions stored in the memory subsystem 330. Similarly, the CPU 310is configured to store and retrieve application data residing in thememory subsystem 330. The interconnect 320 is configured to facilitatetransmission of data, such as programming instructions and applicationdata, between the CPU 310, I/O devices interface 314, mass storage unit316, network interface 318, and memory subsystem 330.

The mass storage unit 316 stores digital content files 132-1 through132-N. The digital content files 132 may be stored using any technicallyfeasible file system on any technically feasible media. For example themass storage unit 316 may comprise a redundant array of independentdisks (RAID) system incorporating a conventional file system.

The memory subsystem 330 includes programming instructions and data thatcomprise an operating system 332, a user interface 334, and a filedownload application 336. The operating system 332 performs systemmanagement functions such as managing hardware devices including thenetwork interface 318, mass storage unit 316, and I/O devices interface314. The operating system 332 also provides process and memorymanagement models for the user interface 334 and the file downloadapplication 336. The user interface 334 provides a specific structure,such as a window and an object metaphor or a command line interface, foruser interaction with content server 130. A user may employ the userinterface 334 to manage functions of the content server. In oneembodiment, the user interface 334 presents a management web page formanaging operation of the content server 130. Persons skilled in the artwill recognize the various operating systems and user interfaces thatare well-known in the art and suitable for incorporation into thecontent player 130.

The file download application 336 is configured to facilitate thetransmission of digital content files 132-1 to 132-N, to the contentplayer 110, via a file download operation or set of operations. Thedownloaded digital content file 132 is transmitted through networkinterface 318 to the content player 110 via the communications network150. In one embodiment, file contents of each digital content file 132may be accessed in an arbitrary sequence. As described, each digitalcontent file 132 includes a sequence header index 114 and an encodedsequence. An encoded sequence provides a full version of digital mediacontent (e.g., video or audio data), encoded to a particular bit rate,and video data associated with the encoded sequence is divided intounits of video data. Each unit of video data corresponds to a specificspan of playback time and begins with a frame including a sequenceheader specifying the size and the resolution of the video data storedin the unit of video data.

In an embodiment, multiple parallel network connections may be set upand/or operated to each transmit a part of the video stream over anetwork. In conjunction with FIG. 1, the multiple parallel networkconnections may connect the content player 110 to one or more contentservers 130, each having the digital content file 132. For example,suppose a dropped packet is detected on one of the multiple parallelnetwork connections. In accordance with the TCP protocol, the packetrate for that particular network connection may be dropped in responseto the dropped packet, while the remaining network connections maycontinue operating at their respective packet rates without anyreduction.

Using parallel network connections may decrease startup time and/orincrease the amount of data transmitted during the startup time. Forexample, in accordance with the TCP protocol, a network connection maybe established with a slow startup packet rate (e.g., a packet rate usedto start transmitting data for a network connection), and graduallyincrease the packet rate after each round trip time period. Usingmultiple connections may allow a greater amount of data to betransmitted during the start up phase than with a single connectionwhile the packet rate of each of the multiple connections is beinggradually increased after each round trip time period.

Using parallel network connections may improve the packet rate fortransmitting a video stream in accordance with the TCP protocol. Toillustrate, if one network connection is allocated for transmitting avideo stream and another network connection is allocated for downloadinga file, then the available bandwidth may be divided equally between thetwo network connections. On the other hand, if multiple (e.g., two)network connections are allocated for transmitting a video stream, andone network connection is allocated for downloading a file, then thevideo stream may be allocated more (e.g., twice as much) bandwidth asthe file download, resulting in an improved packet rate for transmittingthe video stream.

In an embodiment, pipelining may be used to transmit a video stream.Pipelining for a network connection may correspond to a process ofsending multiple requests to transmit data on the network connectionwithout waiting to receive a response for each of such requests beforesending a subsequent request. Pipelining may improve data transmissionrates, since gaps in time between requests may be reduced or eliminated.Pipelining may also reduce the number of TCP packets to be sent over anetwork and may thus reduce network load.

A network may or may not support pipelining. Parallel networkconnections used to transmit a video stream without pipelining mayencounter idle periods between sending requests and receiving responsesto the requests. These idle periods can cause instability in a ratecontrol algorithm that manages requests for the parallel networkconnections, which may result in packet bursts that can overflow abuffer. If pipelining is used on one or more network paths that don'tsupport pipelining, the connections may be closed immediately or after adelay. Although connections may be reopened, time and computingresources may be used that would not have been if the connection hadremained open.

The number of closed connections may be compared to a predeterminednumber. If the number of closed connections is higher than thepredetermined number (e.g., an anticipated number of closedconnections), then pipelining may be determined not to be supported. Ifthe number is lower, then pipelining may still be supported. In someembodiments, the average number of successful requests per connectionmay be evaluated to determine whether pipelining is supported. If theaverage number of requests per connection is below a thresholdanticipated number, this may be an indication that pipelining is notsupported. For example, a CDN may permit approximately 100 successfulrequests per connection. If the average number of successful requestsper connection is lower than 10 and is not caused by deliberate closureof the connection, the system may determine that pipelining is notsupported for the path of the evaluated connection.

In an embodiment, whether support exists for pipelining may be tested bysending a first pair of requests for one or more of the parallel networkconnections. Throughout this disclosure, each of the parallel networkconnections used to transmit a pair of requests for testing purposes isbroadly referred to as a tested network connection. Requests for each ofthe tested network connections may be sent back-to-back (e.g., within apredetermined time period, without intervening requests being sent orresponses being received). In addition, the requests may be sent in thesame or different packets. The responses to the first pair of requestsmay indicate whether pipelining is supported, possibly supported, or notsupported for the corresponding network connection. Some exampleresponses are illustrated in the table below.

TABLE 1 2nd Request Response Protocol Connection HTTP 1.0 2/3/4XX 5XX1st Request Response Timeout Error Reset Response Responses ResponsesTimeout Maybe n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Protocol Error n/a No n/a n/a n/a n/aConnection Reset n/a n/a Maybe n/a n/a n/a HTTP 1.0 Response No No No NoNo No 2/3/4XX Responses No No Maybe No Yes No 5XX Responses No No No NoNo No

As illustrated in Table 1, responses to the first and second requestsmay be a timeout, a protocol error, a connection reset, or a responsesuch as a status code. Depending on the responses to the first requestand the second request, pipelining may be determined to be supported,possibly supported, or not supported. For example, if the first requestresponse and the second request response both correspond to apredetermined status code (e.g., “2/3/4XX Responses” in Table 1), thenpipelining is supported. If the first request/response and the secondrequest/response both correspond to “Timeout” in Table 1, thenpipelining may possibly be supported. If the first request responsecorresponds to “Connection Reset” in Table 1 and the second requestresponse corresponds to “HTTP 1.0 Response” in Table 1, then pipeliningis not supported.

Moreover, if pipelining is possibly supported, a third request and afourth request may be sent to obtain a second result. Based on thecombination of the first result and the second result, a determinationmay be made as to whether pipelining is supported as shown in Table 2below.

TABLE 2 First Result Second Result Conclusion No — No Yes — Yes MaybeYes Yes Maybe Maybe No Maybe No No

FIG. 4 illustrates a content distribution system configured to implementone or more aspects described herein. As shown, the system 400 includesa content authoring server 410 coupled to a plurality of content servers130 _(1-N), which are in turn connected to a multipath adaptivestreaming client device 110 via the internet 150. Additionally, themultipath adaptive streaming client device 110 is connected to a displaydevice 250, to which the multipath adaptive streaming client device 110outputs streaming digital content for display. While the multipathadaptive streaming client device 110 is connected to the plurality ofcontent servers 130 _(1-N) via the internet 150 in the depictedembodiment, such an illustration is without limitation and is providedfor illustrative purposes only. Rather, the multipath adaptive streamingclient device 110 may connect to the plurality of content servers 130_(1-N) over a variety of network connections (e.g., a local areanetwork, an intranetwork, etc.) and/or combinations of networkconnections (e.g., a first network connection over the Internet and asecond network connection over a local area network). More generally,the multipath adaptive streaming client device 110 can use any techniquefor connecting to the content servers 130 _(1-N) consistent with thefunctionality described herein.

As shown in FIG. 4, the content authoring server 410 provides digitalcontent to each of the plurality of content servers 130 _(1-N). Forpurposes of the current example, assume that the content authoringserver 410 provides mirror copies of the digital content to each of theplurality of content servers 130 _(1-N). That is, each of the pluralityof content servers 130 _(1-N) is provided with a full and complete copyof the digital content. More generally, however, it is broadlycontemplated that some or all of the plurality of content servers 130_(1-N) could be provided with only a portion of the digital content,rather than the entirety of the digital content. For instance, some ofthe content servers 130 _(1-N) could only be provided with certaininstances of (e.g., certain movies) and/or certain encodings (e.g., highresolution encodings, low resolution encodings, etc.) of a plurality ofdigital content instances. In such an embodiment where a particularinstance of digital content is hosted on only a subset of the pluralityof content servers 130 _(1-N), the multipath adaptive streaming clientdevice 110 may be configured to stream the particular instance ofdigital content from only the subset of content servers. As anotherexample, some of the content servers 130 _(1-N) could only be providedwith a portion of a particular instance and/or particular encoding ofdigital. In short, it is broadly contemplated that each of the pluralityof content servers 130 _(1-N) may (or may not) have a full and completecopy of each instance of digital content at every supported encodingrate.

In the reference example of FIG. 4, the content authoring server 410provides several different encodings of the digital content to theplurality of content servers 130 _(1-N). More specifically, the digitalcontent is available in three different encodings: a higher qualityencoding, a medium quality encoding and a lower quality encoding. Ofcourse, such encodings are without limitation and are shown forillustrative purposes only, and one of ordinary skill in the art willquickly recognize that any number of different encodings may be providedat any number of various encoding rates.

Generally, the multipath adaptive streaming client 110 is configuredretrieve a digital content stream from the content servers 130 _(1-N)through the network 150. For instance, a playback application 236 on themultipath adaptive streaming client 110 could retrieve networkperformance information for the plurality of content servers 130 _(1-N).As discussed above, the network performance information can be anyqualitative and/or quantitative information of network performance asmeasured by the client 110.

The playback application 236 maps the content servers to portions of thecontent buffer on the multipath adaptive content player 110, based onthe retrieved network performance information. For instance, theplayback application 236 could divide the content buffer on the contentplayer 110 into the plurality of portions and, for each of the pluralityof portions of the content buffer, could determining a size of theportion based on the retrieved network performance information for thecorresponding content server. For example, the playback application 236could divide the content buffer into portions such that a first contentserver having slower network performance, as indicated by the networkperformance information, is mapped to a later portion of the contentbuffer, and a second content servers having faster network performance,as indicated by the network performance information, is mapped to anearlier portion of the content buffer. As the playback application 236is configured to playback content in the content buffer in achronological order, the first content server having the slower networkperformance is given more time to transmit its content to the contentplayer 110 (i.e., because the first content server is mapped to thelater portion of the content buffer), thereby helping to preventdisruptions in the playback (e.g., disruptions caused by bufferunderrun).

Additionally, the playback application 236 could transmit a request toeach of the plurality of content servers to transmit digital contentassociated with the corresponding portion of the content buffer.Advantageously, doing so enables content player devices to streamdigital content in parallel from a plurality of different contentservers, which in turn may help to maximize the network throughput ofthe streaming and thereby help to improve the quality of the streamingcontent (i.e., by streaming a higher quality encoding of the digitalcontent using the increased network throughput). Additionally, mappinglater portions of the content buffer to slower content servers andearlier portions of the content buffer to faster content servers moreeffectively utilizes the content servers of various capabilities. Thatis, by mapping the content servers to the portions of the content bufferin this fashion, embodiments may prevent interruptions in the digitalcontent stream as the slower content servers will have a long window oftime to transmit their corresponding portion of the content buffer(i.e., one of the later portions of the content buffer).

In one embodiment, the playback application 236 optimizes a number ofparallel network connections for a digital content stream through thenetwork 150 between a plurality of content servers 130 _(1-N) and themultipath adaptive streaming client 110. Here, the playback application236 could determine an indication of network performance for each of theplurality of parallel network connections. Additionally, the playbackapplication 236 could determine whether a first one the plurality ofparallel network connections is underperforming, based on whether theindication of network performance associated with the first parallelnetwork connection exceeds a threshold value of performance. In suchcases, the playback application 236 could drop or close the firstparallel network connection.

Additionally, the playback application 236 could add a new networkconnection to one of the content servers 130 _(1-N) under certaincircumstances. For instance, in one embodiment, the playback application236 adds a new network connection if a total network throughput is lessthan a threshold amount. As an example, the playback application 236could be preconfigured with an optimal level of network throughput andif the current network throughput for the digital content stream is lessthan the optimal level of network throughput, the playback application236 could add an additional network connection to one of the contentservers 130 _(1-N). In one embodiment, the additional network connectionis to one of the content servers 130 _(1-N) to which the playbackapplication 236 does not currently have an existing network connection.Alternatively, the playback application 236 could create an additionalnetwork connection to one of the content servers 130 _(1-N) to which theplayback application 236 already has an existing network connection.Advantageously, adding additional connections in this way optimizes thenumber of parallel network connections used by the content player sothat an optimal amount of network throughput can be attained forstreaming digital content.

In a particular embodiment, the playback application 236 is configuredto add an additional network connection to one of the plurality ofcontent servers 130 _(1-N) upon determining that a first deadline forthe digital content stream will not be met. For instance, if theplayback application 236 determines that a portion of the content bufferrequested from a first one of the content servers will not be received(from the content server) by the time the playback application 236reaches that portion of the content buffer (i.e., in playback of thedigital content stream), the playback application 236 could add anadditional network connection to one of the plurality of content servers130 _(1-N) in order to obtain the portion of the content buffer morequickly. As an example, the playback application 236 could be configuredto divide the portion of the content buffer into two or moresub-portions and could request content associated with each sub-portionof the content buffer from a different one of the content servers 130_(1-N). As a second example, upon determining that the deadline for theportion of the content buffer will not be met, the playback application236 could request content associated with the portion of the contentbuffer from a different one of the plurality of content servers 130_(1-N). Advantageously, doing so helps to ensure that all deadlines willbe met for the digital content stream and helps to prevent interruptionsin the playback of the digital content stream.

Additionally, the playback application 236 could add connect to anadditional content server 130 _(1-N) if a count of parallel networkconnections is fewer than a threshold amount of network connections.That is, the playback application 236 could be preconfigured with anoptimal minimum number of network connections and, if the current numberof connections is less than the optimal number of network connections,the playback application 236 could add an additional network connectionto one of the plurality of content servers 130 _(1-N). In doing so, theplayback application 236 could determine one or more of the contentservers 130 _(1-N) from which a network connection was recently dropped(i.e., due to the network connection underperforming with respect to thedigital content stream) and could ensure that the additional networkconnection is to one of the content servers 130 _(1-N) that is not oneof the one or more recently dropped content servers. That is, theplayback application 236 could avoid reestablishing the new connectionwith one of the recently dropped content servers 130 _(1-N).Advantageously, doing so helps to ensure that the playback application236 maintains a minimum number of network connections to the pluralityof content servers 130 _(1-N).

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for streaming digital content from aplurality of content servers, according to one embodiment describedherein. As shown, the method 500 begins at block 510, where a playbackapplication 236 establishes a plurality of parallel network connectionsto a plurality of content servers for the purpose of transferring adigital content stream. The playback application 236 retrievesperformance information relating to the plurality of content servers(block 515). As discussed above the performance information couldinclude any qualitative or quantitative information regarding historicalnetwork performance for the content servers, including a measure ofnetwork throughput for a content server, network bandwidth for thecontent server, network throughput variance for the content server,average latency of the content server, historical availability of thecontent server and services supported by the content server.

The playback application 236 determines a plurality of portions of acontent buffer and an assignment of the content servers to the portionsof the content buffer, based on the retrieved performance information(block 520). In doing so, the playback application 236 may determine therelative size of each of the portions of the content buffer based on theperformance information for the content servers. For example, theplayback application 236 could determine that network connections to afirst content server historically have a high level of networkthroughput. Based on this, the playback application 236 could assign arelatively large portion of the content buffer to the first contentserver, based on the server's historical high levels of networkthroughput. Continuing the example, the playback application 236 coulddetermine that network connections to a second content serverhistorically have a low level of network throughput and/or frequentlyexperience problems which cause delays to the digital content stream(e.g., packet loss). Based on this, the playback application 236 couldassign a relatively small portion of the content buffer to the secondcontent server, to ensure that the second content server is able totransmit the digital content corresponding to the portion of the contentbuffer in time (i.e., before the playback of the digital content streamreaches the portion of the content buffer).

Additionally, the playback application 236 may determine the mapping ofthe content servers to the portions of the content buffer based on theretrieved performance information. For instance, continuing the aboveexample, the playback application 236 could map the first content server(i.e., a content server having historically high levels of networkthroughput) to an earlier portion of the content buffer (i.e., a portionof the content buffer that will be output for display in a shorteramount of time) and could map the second content server (i.e., a contentserver having historically low levels of network throughput and/orexperienced problems which caused delays to the digital content stream)to a later portion of the content buffer. Advantageously, doing soenables the playback application 236 to effectively utilize contentservers with differing levels of performance and to do so in such a waythat minimizes interruptions to the playback of the digital contentstream.

In method 500, the playback application 236 transmits a request to eachof the content servers requesting digital content corresponding to theassigned portion of the content buffer (block 525). In response, thecontent servers 130 _(1-N) could transmit the requested digital content,which is in turn received by the playback application 236 running on thecontent player 110 (block 530), and the method 500 ends. The playbackapplication 236 could insert the received digital content into thecontent buffer and subsequently output frames corresponding to thereceived digital content for display (e.g., using a display device 250).

FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 for optimizing a number of parallelconnections to a plurality of content servers, according to oneembodiment described herein. As shown, the method 600 begins at block510, where a playback application 236 receives a digital content streamfrom a plurality of content servers using a plurality of parallelnetwork connections. The playback application 236 then monitors thenetwork performance of each of the plurality of content servers (block615). For instance, the playback application 236 could monitor thenetwork throughput of each of the network connections. As anotherexample, the playback application 236 could monitor the networkconnections to detect problems in the network connections (e.g., packetloss, connection instability, etc.).

In the depicted embodiment, the playback application 236 next determineswhether any of the content server's network performance falls below athreshold level of performance (block 620). If none of the contentservers are performing under the threshold level of performance, themethod 600 returns to block 610, where the playback application 236continues receiving streaming digital content from the plurality ofcontent servers. If instead the playback application 236 determines thatone or more of the content servers are underperforming, the playbackapplication 236 drops the network connection to the underperformingcontent server(s) (block 625).

The playback application 236 then determines whether the remaining totalnetwork throughput is sufficient for the digital content stream (block630). If the remaining throughput is determined to be sufficient, themethod 600 returns to block 610, where the playback application 236continues receiving streaming digital content from the plurality ofcontent servers. If instead the playback application 236 determines theremaining total network throughput is insufficient for the digitalcontent stream, the playback application 236 establishes an additionalnetwork connection for streaming the digital content (block 635). Suchan additional network connection could be, for instance, a networkconnection to a different one of the plurality of content servers orcould alternatively be an additional network connection to one of thecontent servers to which the playback application 236 has alreadyestablished a network connection.

The playback application 236 then assigns a portion of the contentbuffer to the additional network connection (block 640). For instance,the playback application 236 could assign the portion of the contentbuffer previously assigned to the underperforming content server to theadditional connection. In one embodiment, the playback application 236is configured to reconfigure the content buffer into a plurality ofportions (of potentially different sizes from the original allocation)and to reconfigure the mappings of the content servers to the portionsof the content buffer.

Once the additional network connection is established, the playbackapplication 236 determines whether the network throughput with theadditional network connection is sufficient for the digital contentstream (block 645). If the playback application 236 determines thecurrent network throughput is insufficient, the method 600 returns toblock 635, where the playback application 236 establishes an additionalnetwork connection to one of the plurality of content servers. Ifinstead the playback application 236 determines the current networkthroughput is sufficient, the method 600 ends.

Embodiments described herein may be provided to end users through acloud computing infrastructure. Cloud computing generally refers to theprovision of scalable computing resources as a service over a network.More formally, cloud computing may be defined as a computing capabilitythat provides an abstraction between the computing resource and itsunderlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks),enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool ofconfigurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned andreleased with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.Thus, cloud computing allows a user to access virtual computingresources (e.g., storage, data, applications, and even completevirtualized computing systems) in “the cloud,” without regard for theunderlying physical systems (or locations of those systems) used toprovide the computing resources.

Typically, cloud computing resources are provided to a user on apay-per-use basis, where users are charged only for the computingresources actually used (e.g. an amount of storage space consumed by auser or a number of virtualized systems instantiated by the user). Auser can access any of the resources that reside in the cloud at anytime, and from anywhere across the Internet. In context of the presentinvention, a user could interact with a playback application 236 runningon a content player device in order to initiate a digital content streamfrom a plurality of content servers hosted within a cloud. For example,the playback application 236 could retrieve network performanceinformation for the plurality of content servers. The playbackapplication 236 could then determine a mapping of the plurality ofcontent servers to a plurality of portions of a content buffer on thecontent player, based on the retrieved network performance information,and could transmit a request to each of the plurality of content serversto transmit digital content associated with the corresponding portion ofthe content buffer. Doing so allows the user to stream the digitalcontent hosted on the plurality of content servers from any playbackdevice attached to a network connected to the cloud (e.g., theInternet).

In the foregoing description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However,it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without one or more of these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known features have not been describedin order to avoid obscuring the present invention.

Additionally, while the foregoing is directed to embodiments of thepresent invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may bedevised without departing from the basic scope thereof. For example,aspects of the present invention may be implemented in hardware orsoftware or in a combination of hardware and software. One embodiment ofthe invention may be implemented as a program product for use with acomputer system. The program(s) of the program product define functionsof the embodiments (including the methods described herein) and can becontained on a variety of computer-readable storage media. Illustrativecomputer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to: (i)non-writable storage media (e.g., read-only memory devices within acomputer such as CD-ROM disks readable by a CD-ROM drive, flash memory,ROM chips or any type of solid-state non-volatile semiconductor memory)on which information is permanently stored; and (ii) writable storagemedia (e.g., floppy disks within a diskette drive or hard-disk drive orany type of solid-state random-access semiconductor memory) on whichalterable information is stored. Such computer-readable storage media,when carrying computer-readable instructions that direct the functionsof the present invention, are embodiments of the present invention.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention is determined by theclaims that follow.

We claim:
 1. A method, comprising: determining a level of networkperformance associated with each parallel network connection included ina plurality of parallel network connections; determining that the levelof network performance associated with a first parallel networkconnection included in the plurality of parallel network connections isbelow a threshold level of performance; in response, dropping the firstparallel network connection; continuing to transfer a digital contentstream via one or more remaining parallel network connections includedin the plurality of parallel network connections; and determining that atotal throughput for transferring the digital content stream via the oneor more remaining parallel network connections is less than a minimumthreshold of network performance; and in response, selecting a contentserver with which to establish a new parallel network connection basedon historical network performance data associated with the contentserver.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting contentfrom the digital content stream associated with the first parallelnetwork connection from a second parallel network connection included inthe plurality of parallel network connections.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the content server is not included in a plurality of contentservers with which the plurality of network connections is established.4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content server is included in aplurality of content servers with which the plurality of networkconnections is established.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining that a first deadline associated with the digital contentstream cannot be met by the one or more remaining network connections,and establishing the new parallel network connection with the contentserver.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining thatthe one or more remaining parallel network connections includes fewerthan a threshold number of parallel network connections, andestablishing the new parallel network connection with the contentserver.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: establishing thenew network connection with the content server; retrieving networkperformance information associated with the content servers with whichthe new parallel network connection and the one or more remainingparallel network connections are established; and determining a mappingof the content servers to a plurality of portions of a content bufferincluded in a content player based on the network performanceinformation.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving,from each of the content servers, digital content to be stored in acorresponding portion of the content buffer.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising: establishing the new network connection with thecontent server; assigning a portion of a content buffer included in acontent player to the new parallel network connection based onhistorical network performance data associated with the content server;and receiving a portion of the digital content stream to be stored inthe portion of the content buffer assigned to the new parallel networkconnection.
 10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium includinginstructions that, when executed by a processor included in a contentplayer, cause the processor to perform the steps of: determining that alevel of network performance associated with a first parallel networkconnection included in a plurality of parallel network connections isbelow a threshold level of performance; in response, dropping the firstparallel network connection; continuing to transfer a digital contentstream via one or more remaining parallel network connections includedin the plurality of parallel network connections; and determining that atotal throughput for transferring the digital content stream via the oneor more remaining parallel network connections is less than a minimumthreshold of network performance; in response, selecting a contentserver with which to establish a new parallel network connection basedon historical network performance data associated with the contentserver; establishing the new network connection with the content server;and determining a mapping of the content servers with which the newparallel network connection and the one or more remaining parallelnetwork connections are established to a plurality of portions of acontent buffer included in the content player.
 11. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising requestingcontent from the digital content stream associated with the firstparallel network connection from a second parallel network connectionincluded in the plurality of parallel network connections.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the contentserver is not included in a plurality of content servers with which theplurality of network connections is established.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the content server isincluded in a plurality of content servers with which the plurality ofnetwork connections is established.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising determiningthat a first deadline associated with the digital content stream cannotbe met by the one or more remaining network connections, andestablishing the new parallel network connection with the contentserver.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,further comprising determining that the one or more remaining parallelnetwork connections includes fewer than a threshold number of parallelnetwork connections, and establishing the new parallel networkconnection with the content server.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising retrievingnetwork performance information associated with the content servers withwhich the new parallel network connection and the one or more remainingparallel network connections are established; and wherein the mapping isdetermined based on the network performance information.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprisingreceiving, from each of the content servers, digital content to bestored in a corresponding portion of the content buffer.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:assigning a portion of the content buffer included in the content playerto the new parallel network connection based the mapping; and storing aportion of the digital content stream to be stored in the portion of thecontent buffer assigned to the new parallel network connection.
 19. Acomputing system, comprising: a memory storing instructions; and aprocessor that is coupled to the memory and, when executing theinstructions, is configured to perform the steps of: determining that alevel of network performance associated with a first parallel networkconnection included in a plurality of parallel network connections isbelow a threshold level of performance; in response, dropping the firstparallel network connection; continuing to transfer a digital contentstream via one or more remaining parallel network connections includedin the plurality of parallel network connections; and determining that atotal throughput for transferring the digital content stream via the oneor more remaining parallel network connections is less than a minimumthreshold of network performance; in response, selecting a contentserver with which to establish a new parallel network connection basedon historical network performance data associated with the contentserver; and establishing the new network connection with the contentserver.
 20. The computing system of claim 19, wherein the processor isfurther configured to perform the steps of: retrieving networkperformance information associated with the content servers with whichthe new parallel network connection and the one or more remainingparallel network connections are established; and determining a mappingof the content servers to a plurality of portions of a content bufferincluded in the computing system based on the network performanceinformation.